The Katipunan Legacy When Bonifacio took over the Katipunan he made known to the mass membership that Rizal was its honorary president. Rizal’s picture was placed in their secret recruitment headquarters and his name was used as a pass word. Rizal had become a celebrity and a national symbol of resistance even before he organized La Liga Filipina because Masonic Lodges had been propagating his works in their places of residence and work places. His second move was to portray openly that del Pilar was behind the organization of the Katipunan. Being the recognized father of Philippine Masonry, del Pilar commanded a huge following in the Masonic Lodges in the Philippines. Bonifacio used the occasion of publishing the Katipunan’s first and only issue of Kalayaan to make this known. Its release in March 1896 led to a vicious attack on all Masonic Lodges, swinging Free Masons to the Katipunan together with their followers in the communities where they operated. Del Pilar died on July 4, 1896 in Barcelona as a pauper, isolated because of his advanced stage of tuberculosis – at that time an incurable disease. These two acts substantially increased the membership of the Katipunan in 1896. 5. What were Rizal’s ideas on the Philippine revolution? Did the Katipunan accept his advice? In response to Bonifacio’s call for an immediate uprising, the Katipunan national council decided to ask for Rizal’s approval first (note: this is based on Santiago Alvarez and Pio Valenzuela’s account). The resolution to ask Rizal’s approval was predicated on the belief of the majority of the leadership that Rizal was the real leader of the Katipunan as Bonifacio had declared to them when they joined the Katipunan. Thus in that meeting, the overwhelming majority postponed the decision for a general uprising. Everybody except Bonifacio’s small executive group (Jacinto and Valenzuela) knew that Rizal was never informed that he was the honorary president. Bonifacio chose Pio Valenzuela to be the official Katipunan emissary to relay the resolutions for approval. Bonifacio was a believer in the French Model, that the question of arms would be solved by the armed uprising itself while it was in motion. He also believed that major defections in the Spanish Army would occur once they started the revolution which would tilt the balance in favor of the revolution. 39